First, what is WordPress? WordPress is an open source blogging platform (and some argue a CMS), that is one of the best publishing tools available. WordPress is used by companies such as CNN, Ford, MTV; and educational institutions such as Harvard and MIT.

WordPress is the perfect option for your blog, whether your a professional blogger/writer - or just blog as a hobby.

How do I install?

Before we jump right in to the installation of WordPress, there are a few things we must check first. You need to make sure your webhost meets the requirements WordPress has, and that you have the proper tools to install WordPress.

Requirements

You need access to your site (of course), and certain pieces of software, to proceed with the installation. These are:

• Access to your web server (via shell or FTP)
• A text editor (NotePad++ is recommended)
• An FTP Client (FileZilla is recommended)
• Your web browser of choice (Firefox is recommended)

As of this article, WordPress' stable release is 2.8.6 - however, 2.9 is in beta.

WordPress server requirements for Version 2.9:

• PHP version 4.3 or greater
• MySQL version 4.1.2 or greater
• (Optional) Apache mod_rewrite module (for clean URIs known as Permalinks)

WordPress server requirements for Version 2.8:

• PHP version 4.3 or greater
• MySQL version 4.0 or greater
• (Optional) Apache mod_rewrite module (for clean URIs known as Permalinks)

According to WordPress.org (the official WordPress self-hosted version site), they recommend the following setup:

Linux with either the Apache or NGINX web-servers (they are the most robust platforms for running WordPress), but any server that supports PHP and MySQL will do. If your host doesn't support one of these platforms, and mod_rewrite, you will probably be better off switching to one of the many hosting providers that do offer those choices.

It is also essential that your host allows remote connections, for many of the WordPress features to work. If your host blocks outgoing HTTP connections, many parts of the WordPress will not function.

Recommended server setup:

• PHP version 5.2 or greater
• MySQL version 5.0 or greater